As the Internet increased in popularity, the number of data services and customer devices exploded. For conventional voice-service providers this meant that the time-domain-multiplexed (TDM) networks were no longer optimal for the data services they now desired to carry. These difficulties led to the Converged Packet Architecture (CPA) network. The CPA network leveraged the economics of Ethernet and broke the traditional tie between Layer 1 transport circuits and Layer 2 protocols. The CPA network also simplified the customer premises equipment by combining all services onto a single packet access connection to the customer via an Ethernet interface. The CPA network was deployed using a multi-stage approach. The first stage included providing Ethernet access to Internet Dedicated Ethernet (IDE) hubs (public Internet access using Ethernet connections) and to Private IP (PIP) hubs.
Because the CPA network was limited in the number of possible CPA nodes with only some of the nodes having direct PIP and IDE connectivity, obtaining route diversity while minimizing the overall access distance required creative routing across the CPA network. Ideally, minimizing the overall access distance would require a simple least-distance calculation. However, because of the limited number of CPA nodes, their limited connectivity, and a 400-mile access limit a simple least-distance algorithm was unsuitable for this topology. Therefore, network providers and others with customers or potential customers in various locations needed a solution to provide optimal or at least improved routing in the CPA network while maintaining diversity. Thus, along with the CPA network, the need arose for a homing model designed to provide optimal or at least improved access to PIP and IDE hubs in the early stages of the CPA network.